Entrancing Couple
by Pikatwig
Summary: A new stallion and his little buddy move into Ponyville and meet the Mane 6, becoming fast friends. But adventure and danger are waiting around the corner, will the power of friendship be enough? OCXApplejack
1. New Friends

Pikatwig: Well… my first MLP story. This feels like a bit of an accomplishment. But I'm not alone here, who better to help me then the guy who got me into MLP?

KKD: Figures I'd be here to help. After all, I helped you get into MLP: FiM in the first place.

Pikatwig: And this story will focus on my favorite of the Mane 6.

KKD: AJ?

AJ: Somepony call me?

KKD: Yep. Oh, that remind me. *Snaps fingers and suddenly, KKD is a silvery gray Pegasus pony with Bragiga's face as his Cutie Mark while Pikatwig is a red and silver Unicorn pony with an orange mane and has a mango Cutie Mark*

Pikatwig: Wow! We look cool. So… where's Dash, I want to see how she'd react to seeing you like this.

Rainbow Dash: Somepony call me? *notices the authors.* Wow! You two look cool as Ponies.

KKD: I just thought of what our avatars would look like as Ponies, and this is what happened.

Pikatwig: Thanks. *Glances at AJ.* What do you think?

AJ: You sure look mighty cute as a pony, Pika.

Pikatwig: *blushes* Thanks… that means a lot coming from you.

Dash: Can we get this story started?

KKD: Sure thing. For once, why don't you roll disclaimers, Pika?

Pikatwig: Okay… we don't own MLP:FiM, it belongs to Hub, Lauren Faust and… Hasbro. And then I own an OC pony in this story.

* * *

"Oh my gosh! I can hardly wait for Hearts and Hooves Day!" Pinkie Pie smiled as she pranced around Ponyville as she normally did, but this time preparing to help with the festivities.

"Oh... that time of year again," Spike sighed as he arrived on a flying Twilight.

"Oh! Spikie, Twilight! Good to see you two. You ready for Hearts and Hooves Day?" Pinkie smiled.

"I guess so, but Spike's been in a sad mood ever since the month arrived…" Twilight sighed.

"Why's that, Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

"You know… his crush on Rarity," Twilight reminded.

"Oh yea," Pinkie nodded.

Spike gave a light sigh, as he sat by a rock, and kicked a pebble away. At that moment, Fluttershy flew over, mostly trying to teach some young ducklings to fly, the pebble Spike kicked accidentally hitting one of the ducklings.

"Oh! Sorry about that!" Spike apologized.

"It's okay, Spike. I know you didn't intend for that to happen," Fluttershy told him while tending to the duckling that got hit.

"Good to see you Fluttershy. Hey you know, I kinda met someone like you recently." Pinkie said.

"Really? Who was it?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh, well you see, her name was…" Pinkie started when… a blue frog hopped on over to the group. "Aww… you look SO CUTE!" Pinkie said.

This frog appeared to mostly be cyan with some specks of a dark blue and some white fluff around the neck, and bright yellow eyes under some darker blue bits that could almost be described as looking like a helmet.

"Oh hello," he said, kinda surprising some of the other ponies.

"A talking frog! Aw… so cute!" Fluttershy smiled.

The frog blushed a little bit, and looked nervous. "Thanks… um… I'm Ricky."

* * *

"I didn't know there was a type of frog that could speak," Twilight noticed. "Did you Fluttershy?"

"...Not really," Fluttershy shrugged before… they noticed a silver Unicorn pony walk over, he had some blue highlights in his orange main, green-blue eyes, and then a white spiral Cutie Mark.

"Ricky, there you are." he said with a smile.

"Oh… hello. You new in Ponyville?" Pinkie smiled seeing this young stallion.

"Oh… you must be Pinkie Pie," the male said. "And you're Princess Twilight Sparkle," he said, as he gave a small bow before Twilight.

"Yea… I'm Twilight. And… who're you?" Twilight asked the newcomer who stood up.

"My name is Spiral," he said introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you, Spiral," Twilight nodded. "I can understand how you know me, but… how'd you know Pinkie?"

"Are you kidding, the tales of the Mane 6 are LEGENDARY where I'm from." Spiral said.

"That's so COOL!" Pinkie smiled as Spiral also noticed Fluttershy with the ducklings she was helping.

"Uh… hello," she replied in her usual quiet voice.

Spiral smiled and then walked over. "Nice to meet you. I know you're an animal expert, and so you know, I taught Ricky how to talk myself."

"That's impressive," Fluttershy smiled. "But even I haven't seen a frog like him before. What kind is he?"

"He's a Bubble Frog," Spiral informed.

"Oh… that's a nice name," Fluttershy smiled.

"You lost or something?" Twilight asked Spiral, to be sure he hadn't been traveling to another place and got lost.

"No, I'm moving here. Me and Ricky," Spiral informed.

"Oh, okay. So where's your home?"

Spiral then sighed as he looked at the map, using some magic to hold it mid-air. "Uh… can you help me find where this location is?" Spiral asked sheepishly.

"Sure," Twilight nodded as she looked at the map. "I think I know where this is. Follow me."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Apple farm, Applejack was taking care of the trees as usual, but… something was off. She was looking rather sad while doing so.

"Hey sis?" a younger voice called out.

"...Oh, hey Applebloom," AJ sighed.

"Somethin' wrong?" Applebloom asked.

However, Applejack didn't respond to that, not sure how to answer. "Okay…"

"You sure?"

"It's just… Hearts and Hooves Day's coming, and… I've got no Special Somepony," AJ sighed.

"You wanna talk about it? Because I'm here for you sis," Applebloom replied.

"...Well… with somethin' like Hearts and Hooves Day… it makes someponies think about fallin' in love," AJ replied.

"I'd help, yet I don't want to have a repeat of what happened last time," Applebloom added.

"I just wanna find a pony of mah dreams…" AJ sighed.

"Hey that sounds like a song…" Applebloom replied.

"_I just wanna find a pony of mah dreams… someone to care and love me eveahmore…"_ AJ started singing

"_I need to find that one special kinda guy. To help me, to make me smile and laugh a while,"_

"_Smile and laugh a while,"_ Applebloom added, singing like a chorus

"_I may not know what he's like_._ But I just wanna find that one just for me. He could be far… or he could be close,"_

"_Far or close,"_ Applebloom added.

"_I just wanna find that one pony just for me… I wanna find a pony of mah dreams…" _AJ sung.

"_Dash of kindness, with way of niceness… just so long as… he only has eyes for me."_

"_I don't want him to break my heart… but maybe just to make me fly~"_

"Uh… but you can't fly," Applebloom replied.

"_It's a way, you feel when you're in love! I may be an Earth Pony, but tha don't mean I can't fly with love~"_

"_Fly with love,"_ Applebloom added.

"_Not in a fake way, or under a lie. Just to find that one, very special guy…"_

"_I just wanna find a pony of mah dreams…"_ Applejack concluded.

Applebloom, to say the least, was a bit stunned by this.

"Nice song, sis," Applebloom admitted.

"Thanks… I needed to sing a bit," AJ replied.

* * *

Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy (after escorting her duckling friends home), Ricky and Spiral soon arrive at Spiral's new home.

"Wow!" Pinkie said amazed at the outer look of it.

It seemed like a normal house with the roof looking like it was made of hay, but the outer structure itself was colored cyan to go with Spiral being blue.

"I sure have a nice house, right Ricky?" Spiral replied to his Bubble Frog.

"Yea, sure is," Ricky nodded, as Spiral opened the door. The inside of the house was painted in similar shades of blue to Spiral and Ricky, and this house looked like the average home of a young stallion, yet some of the books on the shelves were on hypnosis.

"Wow, this home is really nice," Twilight admitted.

"Thanks," Spiral smiled, as Fluttershy eyed some of the books on the shelves.

"Wow… can I borrow one of these Bubble Frog books Mr. Spiral-san?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sure Fluttershy," Spiral nodded as he used some of his magic, making his horn glow cyan, to levitate some of his books on the Ricky's species for Fluttershy to pick.

Fluttershy then picked one, and then the other books were put back where they belonged, while Twilight noticed some of the books.

"...Why do you have so many books on hypnosis, Spiral?" Twilight asked.

"Oh. That's my talent, you see one day back in my village, there was this rainbow streak in the sky, and I was practicing, and I hypnotized some ponies in my home as they panicked about the streak in order to calm down. It was also on that day I got my Cutie Mark" Spiral answered.

"Rainbow streak?" Twilight pondered. "That sounds like Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom."

"Somepony mention my name?" another voice asked as a certain rainbow-maned Mare landed right outside.

"Rainbow Dash," Spiral said.

"The one and only!" Dash smirked.

"So… you were the one who created the rainbow streak in the sky?"

"If you mean the Sonic Rainboom, then yea, but when… I'm not sure, or otherwise, I don't know what you're talking about," Dash answered.

"That's it. I witnessed it years ago, and I managed to get my Cutie Mark because of it," Spiral explained.

"What a coincidence! So did me, Twilight, Dashie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack; we saw the Sonic Rainboom and got our Cutie Marks as a result, too!" Pinkie smiled.

"Neat!" Spiral admitted.

* * *

"You seem pretty excited about that," Rainbow Dash noticed.

"Anyway… I'm Spiral, pleased to meet you Dash."

"Nice to meet you too," Dash smiled.

With that, Spiral walked into his house to relax a bit, and Ricky smiled at the group of ponies.

"So Twilight… what did you think of some of my books?" Spiral asked.

"Very interesting," Twilight admitted. "You seem to have a true passion for hypnotism to have this many books on it. I'm almost jealous; you've got more books on it than I do, and I have an entire library of books."

Spiral chuckled a bit at this, glad that Twilight was impressed.

"You're a neat colt, Spiral. If you want, you're more than welcome to hang out with us," Twilight told him.

"Sweet!" Spiral smiled.

* * *

Later, Twilight began to show Spiral around town, and they eventually arrived at the library house that belonged to Twilight.

"And this is my place," Twilight replied as she opened the door for the duo to see Spike working hard getting decorations up and ready.

"Heya Spike," Spiral said.

"Huh? Oh, hi Spiral. Good to see you again," Spike replied.

"Sorry for sending you home early, you know you have to help get the place ready for Hearts and Hooves Day," Twilight reminded.

"Yea, I know," Spike sighed.

"He's got a crush, doesn't he?" Spiral asked.

"You could say that," Twilight answered before whispering, "He's got one on Rarity."

Spiral walked over to Spike, who was working on some sort of gift, but was having some trouble, it was a gold heart shaped coin.

"...Nice looking coin," Spiral commented, kinda surprising Spike as the dragon gasped and jumped up to the ceiling.

"Sorry about that," Spiral said as he brought Spike down. "Need any help with it?"

"Uh…" Spike responded, not sure how to respond.

"It's okay if you don't. So… where is Rarity anyway? I want to meet her and AJ, oh and don't worry about anything Spike," Spiral said, and Spike quickly got what he meant.

"Well… in that case, I could use use a little help.

Spiral smiled, and used a tiny bit of magic to and pulled out some gems before using his magic to embed them into the gem. Spike was amazed by this, and then Spiral handed it back to him to finish, and a knock came from the door.

"I wonder who that could be," Twilight wondered as she answered the door.

"Hello Twilight. Just here to see how preparations for Hearts and Hooves Day is coming along," Rarity informed.

"Hello. I'm Spiral," Spiral said introducing himself.

"Oh, greetings, Spiral. Are you a new arrival in Ponyville?" Rarity replied.

"Yep." Spiral replied, as Spike walked over with his gift.

"Uh… Rarity? ...Here," Spike smiled handing the gift to Rarity.

"Oh… how nice," Rarity smiled using her magic to pick up the coin. "Thank you, darling."

With that, she gave a kiss to Spike on his cheek, making the dragon smile and faint.

"Oh… well, can you show me the way to Applejack's, I think you'll be busy with your… son," Spiral told Twilight, as he looked to Spike when he said 'son.

"...Um… I'd think 'little brother' may be a more accurate way to describe him, but yea, I'll show you to Applejack's place. Follow me."

* * *

They soon arrive at Applejack's farm.

"And here we are, Spiral. The Apple Family is usually busy on the farm almost all of the time, so I'd imagine Applejack would be in the orchard tending to the trees right now," Twilight told the Unicorn Stallion.

They then noticed AJ was indeed working, and Spiral walked over.

"Well… another boring day," AJ sighed as she watered one of the trees.

"AJ?" Spiral spoke up as AJ turned to see the stallion in question.

"Uh… who're you and how do ya know me?" the Apple Pony asked.

"I'm Spiral; I'm new in town. As for how I know you, you and your friends are legends where I'm from."

"Legends? Well… I dunno about that…" AJ chuckled a little, as a wind blew her hat off, making her chase after it.

"I got it!" Spiral responded, using his magic to catch the hat and bringing it back to AJ.

She smiled at him, and Spiral smiled back.

"Thanks for bringing back mah hat, sugarcube," AJ thanked Spiral, causing him to blush a bit.

"You're welcome," Spiral replied, trying to hide the blush with his hooves.

"...Well… I should get back to work… these trees ain't gonna water themselves," Applejack replied, grabbing her water can and walking off.

"Hey Applejack… would you like some help?" Spiral said.

"...No… No… I'll be fine," AJ assured.

"Alright… but it was nice meeting you," Spiral replied.

"Same," AJ nodded continuing her work as Spiral left the fields and rejoined Twilight.

"Applejack is… cuter in person," Spiral admitted.

"You got a crush on her all of a sudden?" Twilight asked.

Spiral was taken back by this question, and was unsure of how to respond.

"...It wasn't that hard to figure it out after seeing Spike crush on Rarity," Twilight told him, making him blush a bit more.

"Promise me you won't tell her. Okay?" Spiral begged.

"I won't. You'll have to tell her yourself," Twilight answered.

"Rrriiiiiiiiiight," Spiral nodded as they left the Apple Farm to continue the tour of Ponyville.

* * *

Applejack was finishing her work for the day when Applebloom came over with some water.

"Here sis, ah figured you could use some water," Applebloom replied.

"Oh… thanks, Applebloom," Applejack smiled, taking a gulp of water.

"So… who was that boy with Twilight?" Applebloom asked.

"Some newcomer named Spiral," Applejack answered.

"Seems nice, saw him get your hat back," Applebloom noted.

"Yea… nice colt," AJ admitted.

Applebloom giggled a tiny bit, before hopping up to her sister's side. "Well… can we go and visit him at his home, we've got nothing better to do."

"True… Ah guess we can do that, I just finished watering this patch of trees fer da day," Applejack figured.

Applebloom smiled, as they headed out, Applejack putting her gear in the barn first. Afterwards, the two sisters trotted off to Spiral's house.

"So… what do you think he's up to sis?" Applebloom asked.

"Not sure, Applebloom. Ah only saw him for a bit, didn't get a chance tah git tah know him," Applejack admitted.

"That's why I think it's a nice idea to go to his house."

"Well, alright."

* * *

Meanwhile, at Spiral's house, the stallion was simply in the middle of reading a book, that was written by Twilight.

"I'm still surprised she actually wrote this after all the reports and journal entries she said she'd usually write," Spiral noted, using his magic to flip through the pages.

"Kinda surprised too bud," Ricky agreed.

"Don't you have flies to snag or somethin'?" Spiral joked with his pet frog.

"Hey I can enjoy literature too and-" Ricky began, when a knock came from the door.

"Who could that be?" Spiral pondered, setting a bookmark in the book he was reading before answering the door. "Yes?"

"Hi. I'm Applebloom, and this is my sister Applejack," the young filly smiled as she greeted Spiral.

"So you're AJ's little sister, huh? Nice to meet ya," Spiral smiled before turning his gaze to AJ. "Nice to see you again, AJ."

"Same," AJ nodded. "Can we come in?"

"Sure," Spiral smiled as he allowed the sisters inside.

"Nice place," AJ admitted. "So… what's your talent?"

"Hypnosis," Spiral answered.

"So what's it like? I mean, what is it like doing it?" Applebloom asked.

"Well it's fun, making sure everypony relaxes as they get put under, and yea…" Spiral said.

"Just to help them relax? Is that all you use it fer?" AJ checked.

"All depends," Spiral replied.

"We've heard you've been on many adventures… did any of them have hypnosis involved at all?" Ricky asked.

"AH!" Applebloom gasped, hopping onto her sister's back. "A talkin' frog!"

"I taught him how to talk, he's not dangerous," Spiral assured.

"Ok," Applebloom nodded.

"Well… I don't recall anythin' I did involvin' hypnosis," AJ replied, thinking on that before remembering something. "Oh wait… now I remember. Discord hypnotized me into being a liar…"

"You lying… that's kinda hard to imagine. Wait… did it happen to any of the others?" Spiral inquired.

"...Sadly yes… Pinkie was hypnotized into being a grump, Rarity into being gem-greedy, Fluttershy into a brute, and Rainbow Dash into a traitor," AJ sighed. "...Not one of our finest moments."

"Oh… sorry for dragging out painful memories," Spiral sighed.

"It's okay… Twilight managed to get us out of that mess, anyhow," AJ replied.

"So… what do you think of your friends anyway?"

"Well, they're all nice in there own ways… and I'm glad to have 'em as friends," AJ answered.

Spiral walked over with a smile. "And I'm glad to have you all as my friends too."

The two just smiled at each other, staring into each other's eyes before they heard a crash.

"Eh?" both gasped, turning to see Applebloom and Ricky near what looked like a broken vase.

"Oops…" both said, before seeing AJ and Spiral.

"She/he did it!" they responded, pointing at each other, making Spiral groaned before using magic to help clean the mess up.

"What happened?" Spiral sighed.

"I wanted to play," Ricky said.

"...Okay… Ricky, we'll need to talk later," Spiral sighed.

"Y'know sis? They kinda remind me o' Twilight n' Spike," AJ noted to Applebloom.

"You're not wrong," Applebloom agreed, actually kinda imagining Twilight and Spike in the place of Spiral and Ricky.

Spiral gave a light chuckle about this, as he glanced over at AJ with a smile. "You know, you're really neat." Spiral said.

"...Thanks," AJ smiled.

"Well, I think we should head out now," Applebloom replied.

"Right," AJ nodded as Spiral got the door for them.

"Come back again, okay?" Spiral asked.

"We will," Applebloom smiled as AJ simply adjusted her hat.

"Later Spiral," AJ replied as she and Applebloom walked off.

* * *

"So sis, what do you think of Spiral?" Applebloom asked.

"...He's alright," AJ shrugged.

"You worried about the hypnosis thing?"

"...A little bit."

Applebloom giggled a bit at this.

"You worry too much sometimes, big sis. That thing was in the past; you can look to better times coming up," Applebloom told AJ.

"I guess… but… after I was hypnotized into lying so much… I have my doubts," AJ sighed.

"Quit worrying, or your face will stay that way sis," Applebloom pointed out, making Applejack laugh.

"You're right… I'm sorry."

The two sisters simply laughed a tiny bit before heading back for the farm.

* * *

Pikatwig: Good first chapter, huh?

KKD: Indeed.

AJ: Sure was. Nice to see you building up the romance, too.

Dash: Better than your usual love-at-first-sight scenario.

KKD: Dashie!

Dash: Sorry…

Pikatwig: I take major offense to that Dash.

Dash: Sorry Pika, I didn't mean to offend you.

Pikatwig: It's cool, I guess.

AJ: Don't mind her, she tends to speak some things when she doesn't intend to.

Pikatwig: Favorite parts?

KKD: Maybe for me it was just Spiral being shown around town, and showing the Mane 6 members his home.

Pikatwig: AJ, Dash?

AJ: Not really sure.

Dash: I don't want to say it and accidentally hurt your feelings again.

Pikatwig: Mine was how Spiral and AJ became friends. It was cute.

AJ: *blushes a little bit.*

Pikatwig: What are you blushin' about?

AJ: ...Nuthin'...

Pikatwig: It's cool. Just Live More.

KKD: Jaa ne!


	2. Pony Kart Dash

Pikatwig: Well… neat name to start huh?

KKD: I'd say that, but it seems to hint at something… Mario Kart maybe?

Pikatwig: Maybe… so AJ, you think the chapter name is neat?

AJ: Ah certainly like it.

Dash: Not quite sure myself.

Pikatwig: Why?

Dash: Again, not sure.

KKD: We'd better move or we'll be on this topic all night.

Pikatwig: Good plan. Disclaimers.

KKD: We own nothing in this story, except for Pika owning Spiral and Ricky. The rest, such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, belong to Hasbro, Lauren Faust, the Hub, and their respective owners.

* * *

"Good morning Spike," Twilight said, walking downstairs, wearing a bathrobe.

"Morning Twilight," Spike replied as he was helping to organize the place.

He was also in the middle of drawing some sort of note.

"What's that you got there, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Plans for a racetrack. Princess Celestia has announced that there will be a big kart race in three days!" Spike informed. "And she assigned me with the task of drawing out the track."

"That's interesting… but… when did she assign you a task? Normally she'd be having me be in charge with helping out around Ponyville, remember?" Twilight pondered/pointed out.

"Oh yea, I forgot… she only had me in charge of designing the track to make sure I had something to do. When it comes time to build it, you're in charge of everything, and I get to help by making sure everything goes where it needs to," Spike answered.

"Oh..." Twilight replied. "Well, when does Princess Celestia want this done?"

"In an hour," Spike replied nonchalantly.

"What?! Well we need to hurry this up fast!" Twilight responded.

"Relax, I'm actually almost finished," Spike informed.

"Really? Let's see what you've finished so far, then."

* * *

Twilight looked at the map and saw it was a map of the land of Equestria itself, and the course Spike was drawing on it led from Ponyville, with the finish line at the Crystal Empire. Specifically, the course would go along through Everfree Forest, with a twist to Appleloossa, head into Las Pegasus, pass into White Tail Woods, a turn into Cloudsdale, passing by Canterlot, go by the Neighagra Falls, take a turn to Manehatten, go into the Crystal Mountains and finally, arrive at the Crystal Empire.

"It's long, huh?" Spike asked.

"Yea, it certainly is long, Spike. You sure planned this one out long and hard to make it challenging yet easily accessible, didn't you?" Twilight noticed.

"Yep, only real instructions Princess Celestia gave me that it has to start in Ponyville and end at the Crystal Empire," Spike answered.

"I see. Well, we'd best get things set. Now that you finished, I guess we need the Princess' approval," Twilight figured.

"Oh and Twilight, she asked you to make the rules for the race," Spike informed.

"Oh… right… I'd best work on those, then." Twilight said, walking off and preparing to set up the rules for the race.

Later, Spike began placing ads up for the race throughout Ponyville, with some help from Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. And the first one to come across one of these ads just happened to be Rarity.

"A race, sounds interesting…" Rarity muttered, as she looked over the flyer. "It'll start in Ponyville, and end at… the Crystal Empire!"

"Yep. The race is kinda long, but it's gonna be a great one planned," Spike responded.

"So, I will assume Twilight planned the course?" Rarity inquired.

"Actually, she only planned the rules; I planned the course myself," Spike answered.

"Neat," Rainbow Dash said, as she flew above them. "But you should just hand me the trophy right now, since I'm the fastest and-"

"You'll have to drive a Go-Kart for this race Dash," Spike informed.

"...What?"

"Not my rule, Twilight's she said something about a 'fair race'."

"...Figures…" Dash sighed.

"Gotta get a Go Kart made for the race, it's the only way you can be in it, after you sign up of course. Cutie Mark Crusaders already did so," Spike said, as he put up another sign.

"...I see."

"Why?" Rarity asked, as Spike put another sign for the race up.

"I'm not sure… why would three kids who are searching for their Cutie Marks enter something big…" Spike said sarcastically.

"...Makes sense to me," Dash shrugged.

"You guys wanna join the race?" Spike asked.

"You bet I do!" Dash smirked.

"Rarity?" Spike said turning to her.

"I'm not sure, Spike," she answered.

"Okay…" Spike sighed, as someone bumped into him. It was a pale magenta Earth pony filly with a mane & tail of a pale, light grayish violet with white streaks, eyes that were a brilliant cornflower blue, and she also had a tiara on her head as well as one for her cutie mark.

"Are you the guy with the signup sheet for the big race?" she asked.

"Yep, that's me," Spike nodded.

* * *

"I'm Diamond Tiara, and I'm signing up for the race. I'm gonna show those Blank Flank Crusaders who's boss!" Diamond said, signing the sheet and trotting off.

"...Okay…" Spike replied, confused.

"What did she just call my sister?! Spike give me that pen! I'm signing up," Rarity said.

"Whatever you say," Spike nodded before Rarity signed up.

Meanwhile, Spiral was using his telekinetic magic to clean off a photo of him as a young colt alongside his parents. He sighed, and took it for a moment. "Okaa-san… otou-san…" he muttered before putting it up, as Ricky ran in.

"Spiral! I've got some news!" Ricky told Spiral.

"What is it?"

"There's a race being announced!"

Spiral was in surprise, as he saw the sign for it, and sighed.

"Look… I know you're not a racing fan due to your dad trying to force you into it like he was, but… can you at least race this one time?" Ricky asked.

"Well… I dunno…" Spiral shrugged.

He sighed and looked at the picture closer, showing his dad had a racing helmet for a Cutie Mark.

"It's only one race. How bad could it be?" Ricky added to what he said earlier.

A knock then came from the front door, as Spiral sighed and walked over to it. It was AJ, and she had a smile.

"Hi Spiral," she said.

"Good day Applejack-chan," Spiral said.

"Chan?" Applejack asked in confusion.

"Oh, I spent about 8 years of my childhood with my Aunt and Uncle in Neighpon after I got my Cutie Mark and… I had some… issues with my parents," Spiral informed. "So what's up AJ?"

"Oh, nothin' much, I was just comin' to see if you were enterin' the big Go-Kart Race," Applejack answered.

"You are?" Spiral asked.

"Eeyup. I sure am. So, are ya enterin'?"

Spiral began to think a tiny bit and then said "Sure why not."

"That's good tah hear. You'd better find Spike soon, though, he's the one with the sign-up sheet," AJ informed.

Spiral nodded, and then after AJ left, and Spiral headed off to find Spike, with Ricky right behind him. It did take a little while, but he finally found Spike.

"Hey Spike? Am I too late to sign up for the race?" Spiral asked.

"Nope, you're right on time. Here," Spike replied, holding out the pen and paper for the signups, and Spiral signed it. "I didn't know you were in to racing."

"...runs in the family," Spiral answered.

"I see. Well, glad you could sign up while you could," Spike replied.

* * *

After a while, Twilight meet up with Spike with a full sheet of rules for the race.

"Okay Spike, I got the list of rules right here, which has been modified based on how long it would take a pony to reach the Crystal Empire from Ponyville on your route. So here's what I came up with. Number 1: Unicorns cannot use magic at all throughout the race; this can also be applied to Pegasi and their wings. However, this rule can be omitted depending on the location or if the racers are in Life and Death situations. Number 2: The racers must sign in at the specified checkpoints throughout the race, and cannot continue until their karts are fully repaired and prepared for the next section of route and when they have officially signed in. Number 3: If the racers arrive at the checkpoints by night, they must spend the night at these stops, and cannot proceed until after breakfast and preparations the following morning. Number 4: If any racer breaks any of these rules unless stated otherwise, then they will be docked a certain number of minutes from their overall time, which could affect the rankings for the race," Twilight told Spike, reading off the rules. "Any questions?"

"What'll happen if a racer spins out?" Spike asked.

"Then the racer will not lose any time from their mistake, allowing them time to get back on track. However, if anypony were to force this to happen, then that pony will be docked twenty minutes off their time for it," Twilight answered.

"Alrighty, let's get together the racers, and start work on the karts," Spike said.

"Right," Twilight nodded as they walked off to gather the racers.

Soon, she had everypony who signed up for the race meet up at the Town Hall. "Hey Fluttershy… why are you in this race anyway?" Spike asked.

"Um… well… I just wanted to make sure everypony was playing fair," she answered.

"Alrighty," Spike replied, as he began to set up some white lines with some paint. "Hey Spike, what's up with the paint?" Pinkie asked.

"Not sure… Princess Celestia said I had to box an area off with white lines," Spike answered.

"Oh… okay," Pinkie replied, as Spike finished. Then some sort of a train appeared, almost by magic, and then it flew above the lines. "Huh, guess that's why,"

* * *

"Commencing Kart Part Delivery, please wait behind the white line," a voice announced, as the train came down, and left some kart parts in the area.

"Discord?" Fluttershy asked.

"Princess Celestia hired me to do this," he responded.

"I see. Just don't try anything that could cause trouble? Ok?" Fluttershy told him in a very serious tone.

"Sure thing," he replied as he brought out various boxes with the equipment and parts for the karts.

"So… should we trust him?" Scootaloo asked.

"Why not, we know his son," Applebloom replied.

"Besides, he did get the official equipment for the race. So, I guess it's safe to trust him," Sweetie Belle added.

Then, the supplies were dropped down, and the racers all got a look at them all.

"Let's see…" Rarity pondered as they began to pick out the parts they wanted.

"Remember, this kart will have to be multi-functional, and be able to cross deserts, water, and fly in some way, shape or form." Dischord informed. "This is to compensate for the rule against Unicorn magic and Pegasi flight."

They nodded, and began to get parts for their karts. The CMC kart started to look sorta like a cat shaped vehicle, and had a flotation device for water travel, and a sail for air travel, and with three seats. Diamond tried to find the materials that looked more expensive while Rarity looked for specific parts that fit her fashion sense.

"Well… what should I use…?" Twilight pondered as Dash quickly pulled out parts that could compliment her speed.

"No time to think just grab and go," Dash replied.

"Talk about being in a rush," Applejack noted, grabbing parts, making sure they could simply stay together well while seeing they had an apple theme like Dash's were all rainbow colored.

* * *

Fluttershy was taking her time in picking parts out, while the lone Zebra, Zecora, picked out parts with a mystical theme and Pinkie grabbed a lot of pink and party parts. Spiral picked out some blue parts, making sure his parts were well-balanced for all required aspects.

"Alrighty racers, start assembling your karts!" Discord said.

Surprisingly, Spiral was able to effectively assemble his kart rather quickly, with help from Ricky, while the others assembled their own karts at their own pace, not used to assembling such machines. Spiral's kart ended up looking like a relatively basic blue go-kart, yet it looked more technical due to other attachments and some paint jobs on it.

"Looking good, Spiral," Ricky complimented.

"Thanks," Spiral replied, not caring as much while AJ appeared to be having a bit of trouble. "...I wanna help her."

"You did finish rather quickly, so I don't see why not."

Spiral smiled and walked over to AJ.

"Hey, AJ," Spiral replied.

"...Oh, hey Spiral," AJ waved before trying to get back to work.

"Need some help?" Spiral asked.

"I got it," AJ told him, but some parts kept falling apart.

"Still gonna help," Spiral replied, using his magic to help connect the parts together.

"Have ya done this before?" AJ asked.

"Yep," Spiral nodded as he finished AJ's kart.

"Wow. Nice work, Spiral," AJ complimented.

"Thanks…" Spiral blushed.

"Ah guess I'll just see what else I can do before the race."

Spiral then looked and saw everyone was struggling, and sighed.

"Do I have to help everypony else now?" he whispered to himself and Ricky.

"Probably," Ricky shrugged.

Spiral groaned as he walked over to help the others.

* * *

Later

The karts were almost finished as Diamond Tiara walked over to the CMC. "Wow… that's actually kinda nice," Diamond admitted.

"That's… surprisingly nice coming from you," Scootaloo noted.

"Okay…" Diamond smiled. "Why don't you hang out with your sisters for a bit, the race won't start for a while."

"Sure, sounds like a nice idea," Sweetie Belle figured as the CMC trotted off to chat with their sisters (or in the case of Scootaloo, her idol/role model).

Then, when no one was looking, Diamond smirked as she took a closer look at the kart, and got an idea. "Let's see you crying to your sisters when you lose the race without any brakes, you Blank Flanks!" she muttered, going under the kart and finding the wires that connected to the brakes, and then used her teeth to gnaw the wires until they were frayed, meaning the brakes wouldn't properly work. She then got out from under the kart and smirked.

"Hey Diamond… do you like our kart?" Scootaloo asked, trotting over.

"Oh yea, it's great," Diamond Tiara nodded, before she walked off to her own.

"Hmm… she was being uncharacteristically nice… or am I just over assuming things… I'll go for the latter… and I am talking to nobody," Scootaloo figured.

Meanwhile, Applebloom walked over to Zecora, who was putting the finishing touches to her kart. "Hi Zecora, how's everything going?"

"Everything is just, as you say, fine. I was just putting the finishing touches to this kart of mine," Zecora answered in her usual rhyming tone.

"It looks really neat, but in first it won't be, due to me and CMC's kart, you shall be beat… oh listen, that rhyming thing is catching on," Applebloom giggled.

Zecora smiled, and patted her head, "Honest and kind you are before your prime, if you continue this behavior, your Cutie Mark will appear in no time."

"You mean it…?" Applebloom gasped, earning a nod from the zebra. Applebloom then gave Zecora a hug, before trotting off to her kart. "We sure did make a mistake thinking she was somepony to be scared of when she first appeared."

"Come to think of it… why DID we make that mistake anyway?" Pinkie pondered, hearing Applebloom say that.

"Well… I think it has something to do with how she was pounding the ground," Twilight started.

"Huh?" Pinkie and Applebloom asked in unison.

"Normally, zebras do that when they are searching for water. Never got the chance to explain before 'cause you were all scared stiff," Twilight added.

"Oh…" both said in unison before chuckling nervously.

* * *

Later, Scootaloo was hanging out with Dash.

"Heya Squirt, what's up?" Dash asked.

"I'm fine…" she replied a little nervous.

"Nervous?"

"Yea… with half of our group gone-" Scootaloo began.

"You can do fine with your original trio, Scoots," Dash assured.

"...Thanks," Scootaloo smiled.

"Just remember what I told you before, you're all kinds of awesome no matter what happens."

Scootaloo gave her a hug, and they smiled. "I may not be your sister… but I see you like one Dash."

"You know Squirt, I admit, I'm seein' ya as a sister, too," Dash admitted. "In fact, as much as I love winning, I wouldn't mind if you managed to beat me with your friends, in fact, I'd be very proud of ya."

Scootaloo smiled and was giddy, and Spiral simply watched from nearby. "You know… she reminds me of… you know," Ricky told Spiral.

"...I miss her," Spiral said with a tear streaming down his left eye.

"Hey, c'mon, cheer up, Spy," Ricky replied, using a nickname for Spiral. Spiral smiled, and then walked over to his kart.

The next day, everypony had gathered at the finish line with their karts, ready to begin.

* * *

"Good day racers!" Princess Celestia said, having personally come to witness this race alongside her sister. "I would like to thank everypony for coming today, whether they be participating in this race, or just here to watch. This will be one of the biggest events in all of Equestria, which is why my sister and I personally came to witness it. Now, I'd like to thank everypony again who is participating in this race, but I must warn you, this isn't a simple race that can be accomplished in a mere hour; this race will be long and will span the course of several days, so let's let our course designer explain the route. Spike?"

With that, Spike came up next to Celestia with a board showing the map of Equestria.

"Alright, here is our course: every racer will start here in Ponyville, and the route will take you through the Everfree Forest, down to Appleloosa, which will contain the first checkpoint, then you'll head west to Las Pegasus, up North through the White Tail Woods, which is close to the second checkpoint, you'll turn towards Cloudsdale, passing by Canterlot, head East towards Neighagra Falls, which to the southernmost point will have the next checkpoint. After that, you'll continue East into Manehatten, then you'll go North again to the Crystal Mountains, and work your way to the Crystal Empire, where you'll cross the finish line," Spike explained.

"I have a question Spike. Why don't we just go from Neighagra Falls to the Crystal Empire?" Rarity asked asked.

"While your karts are designed with parts that should allow you to cross all types of terrain, they aren't able to withstand the rushing waters of the falls to go straight from there to the Crystal Empire, and the winds that may be caused near the falls may make it too risky to fly over," Spike explained.

Rarity gave a nod in understanding, with the other racers nodded as well.

"Hello racers!~ I'm your color commentator," Discord announced his presence, leaving most ponies on edge due to his past, and it would be understandable seeing as how he tried to take over Equestria in the past.

"Don't worry everypony, he's learned his lesson, and will only be here during this event as a color commentator," Celestia assured.

There were some murmurs about this fact. "Let's just get this race started already!" somepony shouted as the rest of the crowd agreed and cheered.

"Alrighty!" Spike announced, ready to get started.

With that, the racers got into position. Spike had a sort of timer by the starting line and it counted down… 3… 2… 1…

* * *

"GO~!" Discord shouted, and thus, the racers took off, creating a huge dust cloud in their wake. "And they're off!"

Since they had to drive across Ponyville, the racers had it easy at first with Dash in first place, the CMC in second place, Diamond in third, Rarity in fourth, Zecora in fifth, Twilight and Pinkie tied for sixth, Spiral and Applejack tied for seventh, and Fluttershy in eight place.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were fast gaining on Rainbow Dash, and saw a ramp of sorts, and they drove up to it, somehow gaining a speed boost as they zoomed off it, and quickly taking the lead.

"Smooth moves Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle complimented.

"Thanks, but honestly, I didn't think that would get us this far ahead," Scootaloo responded.

"We're comin' up on the Everfree Forest," Applebloom informed as they reached the border of the forest.

"So… shall we try and keep the lead?" Scootaloo asked jokingly, as Rarity came from out of nowhere, as her kart landed.

"Flying mode… how did she get such air?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No idea," Scootaloo admitted as the trees were getting tighter and making the route more narrow. "Uh oh… we'd better slow down."

Applebloom then reached down to hit the brakes… only for them to not work.

"Uh… Applebloom, we're not slowing down…" Sweetie Belle said.

"The brakes ain't workin'!" Applebloom responded, desperately trying to slow the kart down. Diamond then passed them, giving the CMC a raspberry with her tongue out of her mouth, and this made Scootaloo put two and two together.

"Drat… Diamond," Scootaloo growled.

"Turn!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom shouted, forcing Scootaloo to turn hard, but sadly they ended up crashed into a tree, the kart was intact, aside from one wheel rolling out from the back, and the three Crusaders being flung out. Dash then slowed to a stop and rushed over to them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"...Diamond sabotaged our kart," Scootaloo explained.

"Ok, try entering flight mode for now; there should be a repair station at the first checkpoint."

The three then put their missing wheel on their kart and got into their flight mode, flying through the trees.

"This is a lot easier," Applebloom admitted.

* * *

Meanwhile, Spiral was starting to catch up to the others, and was right in sixth place, about to pass Pinkie. "Alrighty… gotta pass her…" he muttered, as Pinkie ended up spinning out of control randomly, slowing herself enough before crashing into Spiral as Applejack went to flight mode and took fifth.

"...why did you do that?!" Spiral demanded to know.

"I couldn't help it, I just turned too hard!" Pinkie responded as they quickly got back on track.

As things continued, the racers were passing by tighter turns, before finally leaving the forest, and driving/flying across the plains before coming up near Ghastly Gorge, the canyon separating the boundary between the forest and the way to Appleloosa. At this point, the racers on the ground slowed down, while the racers in the air were having a blast, zooming on ahead with the advantages of flight.

"Well, this is a fine snaketrap we're in…" Spiral muttered.

"...What?" Twilight asked, a bit confused.

"Nothing," Spiral replied, as he was able to pass Twilight and take fourth place, but the ground he was on broke off, and he was about to fall into the canyon when… he quickly set his kart to flight mode.

"Show off," Twilight groaned.

Soon, all the ponies managed to make it to the checkpoint in Appleloosa after going across the desert, and reaching the checkpoint… although the CMC almost crash landed seeing their brakes weren't working.

"Are you three okay?" Spiral asked.

"No, our brakes were sabotaged," Scootaloo answered a repair pony came up to check on it.

"Yep, I'd say so; the wires for the brakes were chewed right off," said pony said, seeing the problem almost immediately.

"Well… can you fix it, along with the wheel that fell off when we smacked into a tree?"

"Of course, I'll take care of it," the pony nodded as she got to work, using her telekinetic magic to pick up the wheel and start putting that back into place.

"So Diamond… why did you do it?" Scootaloo asked.

"I didn't," she lied.

"Sure you didn't. I should've known you were lying."

The CMC walked off to their kart to get ready for the night.

* * *

"It is late, so we'd best get some sleep," Applebloom replied.

"Oh, and don't worry girls, while your competitor is still in this race, she's been docked 30 minutes for that sabotage," a pony official of the race informed.

"And that means…?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It means when she does cross the finish line, she'll have 30 minutes added to her total time, meaning it could cost her whatever position she got."

"Cool!" all three crusaders said in joy, Diamond Tiara not hearing this news herself as all the ponies entered a tent for them all to spend the night in.

"Hey Applejack, you were really good today," Spiral complimented.

"Thanks, Spiral," Applejack replied. "And… sorry about what happened back there with Pinkie."

"No, I should be sorry, I wasn't paying attention to how I was steering that one point," Pinkie replied, walking over to apologize. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine… just be more careful," Spiral sighed.

"I'll do my best," Pinkie smiled before bouncing off to bed.

"So anyway… you did really good today, oh and… can I sleep in the same tent as you… they ran out of tents…" Spiral asked, and then AJ looked around, and seeing they were indeed one tent short.

"...Well… I don't see why not," AJ shrugged.

Spiral gave a small blush, as he trotted on in.

"Seeing as we're only here one night, there's no point in decorating," AJ noted. Spiral smiled at AJ, as he sat down.

"You know… I really hope that one of us wins, AJ-chan," Spiral admitted.

"Seeing as how you know your way with a kart, I'd imagine you'd be the winner," AJ figured.

Spiral blushed a tiny bit at this. "Oh… I got something I need to take care of real quick, you think you can check on Applebloom really quick for me?" Applejack asked.

"Sure thing," Spiral nodded as he trotted out towards the tent of the CMC. "Hi," he said.

"Oh it's… Spiral, right?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yep. Is Applebloom in, AJ just wanted me to check on her."

"I'm here. And I can't wait to see who will win our bet." Applebloom said.

"What bet?"

"Me and my sister had a bet, you see, if you get in the top five, she'll have to do something special for you, but if she gets in the top five, then I owe her a big favor," Applebloom explained.

Spiral gave a bright blush, as he trotted away.

"At least she's doing okay," Spiral noted as Ricky popped out of his mane.

"Wow… some bet, huh?" Ricky asked.

"I'll say."

They then arrived back at the tent, and Applejack was simply getting ready to get to sleep.

"So… you gonna be okay with me in here?" Spiral asked.

"I'll be okay wit' it, I had to share a room with Big Mac at times," AJ answered.

"Alrighty… goodnight," Spiral said, as he laid down in his sleeping bag and fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, everypony was up and ready to get back to the race; they had breakfast quick and were back on the road in no time. Thus, the race was back underway, and this time the CMC were in first, Dash second, Diamond third, Applejack fourth, Spiral fifth, Pinkie sixth, Rarity seventh, Zecora eighth, Twilight ninth, and Fluttershy last.

"And now, how about we get a word with the racer in last place?" Discord said, sending a cloud-camera to where Fluttershy was.

"I'm still amazed we can get the camera on the racers at all," Spike admitted, but the moment the camera came up to her, Fluttershy screamed in surprise, accidentally making her floor it all the way to first. "Oh Celestia! That sudden surprise boosted Fluttershy from dead last to leading the pack in this race!"

"Oh my…" Spiral said, as Diamond ran into some sort of glowing shard. "What the? No pony informed me of this."

Then, Diamond Tiara found she was now holding a spiked sphere, and then she tossed it behind her, causing spikes to be laid all around the track.

"What the?!" Applejack gasped, seeing she was the closest.

But then Spiral shoved her kart out of the way, and all of his tires popped as a result.

"Oh nuts," Spiral groaned. "Now how am I gonna get moving?"

Applejack then saw another shard, and it turned into a sort of healing item, and she tossed it over to Spiral.

"What? Now how's this supposed to work?" Spiral pondered before it touched his kart, it glowed, and his tires were magically fixed, getting him back on track, which was good seeing as he dropped from sixth to ninth place. He quickly pounded on the gas and got moving, as he was getting close to Zecora.

Then, with a quick bump, Spiral was able to zoom past Zecora as they drove towards the river that led back to Ghastly Gorge.

"And here they come; they'll need to use their boat modes to get past this," Spike commented as the ponies quickly pressed the buttons for the boats, allowing them to enter boat mode, letting them zoom across the water.

Fluttershy was having some trouble controlling the boat mode, and this easily allowed Diamond to steal first place.

"And Diamond Tiara easily takes the lead!" Spike commented.

"She's a rather interesting diamond in the rough, is she not?" Discord noted.

"Seems that way, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders are coming up very fast."

Indeed it was true as the CMC motored past Fluttershy and right behind Diamond, they then passed through the shard, and got a sort of a kunai.

"What do we do with this?" Applebloom asked.

"Dunno," Sweetie Belle said, as she threw it, and it managed to hit Diamond's kart, making her spin out of control long enough for the CMC to zoom ahead.

"And the crusaders manage to STEAL the lead with that one!" Spike called out.

"...I don't get it," Discord replied.

"...That wasn't meant to be a joke; being colorful in commentary's your job," Spike responded.

"Alrighty…" Discord sighed. "Let's have a word with our leading racer, shall we?"

Spike nodded as the camera zoomed up to the CMC, zooming and cruising in first as they were back driving on dry land through the desert.

"Never thought we'd get in first this quickly," Applebloom noted.

"And we're gonna hold this position for as long as we can," Scootaloo smirked.

"Cause we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie Belle finished.

"Well said," Spike nodded.

* * *

Then, somehow, Twilight found a boost ramp and managed to get a huge lead.

"WOOHOO~!" she cheered.

"And Twilight took quite a leap ahead," Spike responded.

"Go Twilight go!" some fans yelled, as they continued on towards Las Pegasus.

However, Spiral was able to overtake the lead, and smiled.

"I'm back… the place where I decided to be a hypnotist," Spiral muttered, and he was easily able to keep the lead for a little while, before Applejack caught up to him.

"You been up 'ere quite a while, Spiral. But yer about tah eat mah dust!" Applejack replied, managing to get ahead of him.

It was rather easy, as Spiral kinda watched her for a moment.

"Oh boy… I'm crushing on her big…" he muttered.

"Spy! Focus! Get in the zone, bro!" Ricky responded, snapping him out of it.

He sped up, and then Twilight and Pinkie were tagging Spiral, before Dash passed the two, and was in third place.

"Celestia, she's fast!" Spiral gawked.

Dash was then about to take the lead when…

Pinkie used her Party Cannon, causing Dash to spin out, and right into last place!

"How'd she do that?!" Dash gasped. "I thought she didn't have her Party Cannon!"

"Got from one of those item shards… too bad it's one use only when I get it," Pinkie shouted back. Dash growled in anger, and passed through an item shard, and got some kind of Rainbow Boost, making her execute a Sonic Rainboom into first place!

"Whoa! Okay, what kind of item allowed her to pull THAT off?!" Spike gawked.

"Don't know…" Discord shrugged as Fluttershy tried to keep up, only to somehow hit the edge of the track, but it was enough for her to find a shortcut up a cliff before she flew in to second. "...what in the world?" she muttered, before yawning, and it was because of Zecora using an item that made Fluttershy sleepy, and it was making her slower.

"While temporary that potion put Fluttershy to sleep, and she should be glad it's not too deep," Zecora replied as she came up past the drowsy Pegasus.

Spiral then smirked, as he got an item that allowed him to dash into third.

"I'm gonna win!" Spiral shouted when suddenly, Rarity was right in front of Spiral… literally just popping up from out of NOWHERE.

"How did I get here?" She asked.

"How should I know?!" Spiral responded.

"Did she use a teleportation item?" Spike wondered. Everyone was at a loss as the race left the city.

"Talk about crazy," Spike noted.

"Yes indeed," Discord nodded.

Everyone zoomed off to the White Tail Woods, and the racers were zooming through the area with ease.

"And the racers are making spectacular time today, but to get towards Cloudsdale, they're gonna have to hit the skies and fly," Discord noted.

"Our home town, it'll be cool to visit," Fluttershy admitted.

"Bet they'll be surprised when they see us again," Dash agreed. "But we have to focus on the race, too."

"I get it, I'm just saying," Fluttershy responded as everypony shifted their karts to flight mode and took off towards Cloudsdale.

* * *

However as they got higher, Spiral was getting rather scared. Yet, most of the racers didn't notice this. When Applejack noticed.

"What's going on, Spiral is losing places fast! And he was doing so well before they got to his point," Spike commented.

Spiral was slowing down more and more, and had his eyes closed in fear.

"He's literally spiraling out of control!" Discord gasped.

"Spiral! What's wrong?!" Applejack responded.

Spiral saw her, and then stopped completely. "I'm… scared of heights," he whimpered.

"Fer real?"

"Yea…"

"Jus stay calm!" Applejack told him.

"Help…"

And with that, Applejack activated a grappling hook, and grabbed onto Spiral's kart.

"This is a surprise, Applejack is helping Spiral in this time of need!" Discord gawked.

"This is the real power of friendship right here!" Spike admitted.

Only then did Spiral look up and see what was happening. Spiral smiled at AJ, as they flew.

"Don't look down, Spiral. I'll help you out," Applejack assured.

Spiral smiled at her as they continued.

Meanwhile, Dash had taken the lead again when Fluttershy suddenly took the lead.

"Uh, okay, time to slow down now…" Fluttershy replied before she tried to brake, only to find out they weren't working. "Uh oh…" she said, as her brakes still did nothing, and she was about to crash when… Dash pushed her to safety.

"What's wrong Fluttershy?" Dash asked.

"My brakes aren't working!"

Dash then zoomed over, and saw that it was true. "I'll help you get to safety,"

"Seems Fluttershy's having problems, and Dash is helping out," Spike observed.

"Who would mess with Fluttershy. It's almost as bad as messing with my son," Discord muttered.

"I'm not sure, but I almost think it might be the same one who sabotaged the CMC."

Diamond simply smirked, as she rammed right into Dash and Fluttershy causing both to spin out.

"WHOA~!" the two Pegasi screamed.

Dash ended up crashing into a bakery, while Fluttershy was approaching a cliff!

"Uh oh!" Spike gasped.

Luckily the CMC were able to bounce her back onto the track.

"You okay?" Applebloom asked Fluttershy.

"I… I think so…" Fluttershy answered.

'_Darn it… I gotta get rid of those guys… wait! I'll sabotage them all at the last checkpoint!'_ Diamond thought.

* * *

After passing Canterlot, wasn't much longer until they managed to get past Neighagra Falls and to the checkpoint… well, all except Spiral and Applejack anyway. As they were trying to get the grappling hook out of Spiral's kart.

"Spiral, you can look now, we're back on the ground," Applejack informed.

Spiral looked and then smiled. "Thanks for the help… I owe you."

"Aw, it was nothin'." Applejack smiled, as they hugged, and saw they were in dead last. "Well... we should get moving, after we get the hook out."

"Yea, good idea," Spiral nodded, using his magic to try and get the hook out. Thus they drove on over to the last checkpoint, and saw it was almost 5am!

"Everypony's gonna wake up soon, and we hardly got any sleep!" Spiral almost panicked until Applejack signed them in, and the repair ponies went quickly to repair the karts.

"Relax Spiral, everything'll be fine," AJ assured.

Unknown to everypony, the karts had all been sabotaged, apart from Spiral's kart and AJ's kart.

"Okay, you two are set. Go grab some breakfast before everypony else rushes back to the race," the repair pony told the two in dead last.

They nodded and quickly went to get something to eat.

"That's a relief to get something to eat," Spiral sighed.

"Sure is sugarcube," Applejack agreed as they finished before returning to their karts, just as the other ponies we just waking up.

"Ah those two were in a big mess yesterday, I am very relieved to see that they are okay," Zecora sighed with relief.

"Thanks," Spiral smiled, as Applebloom rushed over to her sister.

"Applejack! Are you alright?!" Applebloom asked.

"I'm fine," she assured, making Applebloom smile in relief.

"Hey Spiral, Applejack. Good luck on the last leg of the race!" Twilight bid the two.

They then boarded their karts and got ready. And with a loud sound, everypony took off. However, the CMC and Zecora noticed something was off right away when they went faster than they intended to, Zecora panicking in her native language. Rarity then took off at a higher speed to get her sister to slow down.

"Sweetie Belle, what's going on?!" Rarity asked.

"I don't know!" Sweetie screamed.

Rarity then felt something odd in her kart, and then noticed the wires were cut from the brakes.

"Oh no…" she gasped.

"What's wrong?" Sweetie asked.

"My kart's brakes!" Rarity answered.

"WHAT?!" the CMC gasped before checking to see their brakes were in the same situation.

They then saw Diamond zoom ahead of them, and soon followed by Dash, Pinkie, AJ and Spiral.

"What's going on here?" Spiral asked.

"Victims of sabotage, nice work you jerk!" Pinkie shouted, as they saw Fluttershy trying to control her kart, which is stuck in flying mode.

"This is just gitting silly!" Applejack noted.

Twilight was somehow still going ahead, but her kart movements were spinning out of control while Dash's kart could only drive in reverse.

"Pinkie, I highly doubt Spiral was responsible for what's happening to our karts," Twilight informed.

"Why…?"

"Why would he want to sabotage us; I'd think he'd want to win fair and square."

"Yea. Plus, I got in at 5am! When would I have time to sabotage karts when I got in at 5am, ate and then got back." Spiral replied, and Pinkie then sighed, seeing her wheels fly out from their parts, as they began to get closer to Manehatten.

"OH COME ON!" Pinkie whined, as she took out her Party Cannon to blast herself forward.

Diamond was in the lead at the moment, with everyone feeling the effect of her handiwork.

"With them out of the way, I'm sure to win," she smirked before… Applejack zoomed past her. "Oh no! I forgot about Country Blank Flank's sister and the new guy!"

Just as she said that, Spiral zoomed past Diamond as well.

"Dumb racers!" she said, as somepony hit her with an apple pie. The one who threw the pie was Babs Seed, a relative to Applebloom and Applejack.

"Thanks Babs!" Applebloom shouted as she and the CMC passed by.

"Go Bloom go!" Babs shouted, as they zoomed past, and thus they were nearing the Crystal Mountains.

"I can't believe we're in the lead!" Spiral noted. Applejack smiled at him, and then noticed the CMC were behind them, followed by Diamond, Fluttershy, Dash, Twilight, Zecora, Rarity, and Pinkie in that order. "Alrighty… final stretch!"

"May the best pony win," Applejack smirked.

Spiral smiled, as Diamond found an item that allowed her to get closer to first place. However, Dash dropped a banana peel or two to slow down Diamond, but it stalled Applejack long enough for Spiral to get first. Followed by Applejack, Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Diamond, CMC, Pinkie, Rarity, and Zecora.

It wasn't much longer until the racers reached the Crystal Empire, and every pony there cheered for the racers.

* * *

"And now, fillies and gentlecolts, I will now announce the final ranks for our racers," Princess Cadence answered as she looked at the final list. "In first place, we have Spiral, second place winner is Applejack, followed by Rainbow Dash in third! The rest of the racers include Fluttershy in fourth place, my sister-in-law Twilight Sparkle in fifth, Diamond Tiara in sixth, the Cutie Mark Crusaders in seventh, Pinkie Pie in eighth, Rarity in ninth, and Zecora finished last in tenth place."

At this point, Diamond Tiara smirked at how she at least managed to best the CMC.

"HOWEVER!" Cadence started again, making Diamond flinch. "Due to efforts in sabotaging the other racers, not once, not twice, but three times! Diamond Tiara loses enough time on her score to drop into dead last. Yet her actions mean she is overall disqualified! Meaning the final ranks for the last four racers are the CMC in sixth, Pinkie Pie in seventh, Rarity in eighth, and Zecora in ninth."

Diamond just gasped in response, her jaw dropping to the ground before growling in annoyance. AJ then walked over to Spiral and sighed.

"Well… you finished in the top five, and I have to do something for you, and… well… you did great," she told Spiral before kissing him on the cheek. He blushed a VERY deep red as Applejack walked over to her sister.

"So… I'll do your chores for a month sis," Applebloom replied.

"Sounds fair enough," Applejack nodded.

And so, Dash first got a bronze medal, AJ a silver medal, and then finally, Spiral got the gold medal, and… a crystal trophy!

"Wow…" Spiral gawked.

* * *

"Let's see…" Twilight pondered before writing in her journal about what happened. "The last few days were crazy; my friends and I participated in an epic race, but many of us ended up being sabotaged by Diamond Tiara, and yet she got a real blow of reality to hit her in the face. Thus, I learned the only way to truly win is to play fair and square; cheaters never prosper."

"Hey Twilight, maybe one day we can let Spiral write in the journal. After all, we did let one of the CMC do so," Spike told her.

"...Maybe Spike. We'll have to wait and see," Twilight figured.

* * *

Pikatwig: And thus this chapter is completed!

KKD: And that took quite a while, didn't it?

Pikatwig: Yep. So, AJ, Dash, thoughts?

Dash: It was cool. I'd normally be against losing, but to friends like AJ and Spiral, I wouldn't mind.

AJ: I thought the chapter was cute.

Pikatwig: So what did you think of the race?

AJ: Kinda crazy.

Dash: But pretty cool and fun.

AJ: Agreed.

Pikatwig: And the ending journal entry?

AJ: Nice little message.

Pikatwig: Rather fitting for this chapter.

Dash & AJ: Indeed.

Pikatwig: Favorite part is where AJ helped Spiral win.

KKD: I'd have to say the same thing.

Pikatwig: AJ, Dash?

Dash: I'd say the closest I'd call a fav would be when I encouraged Scoots at the start of the race.

AJ: And my favorite part is the same as yours, Pika.

Pikatwig: Well, let's end it off. Just Live More.

KKD: Jaa ne!


	3. Mixed Up Mane 6

Pikatwig: A new chapter is here! And I'm happy to be working on it. What about you aibou?

KKD: *Appears out of thin air, yet lands in sparkling new armor.* More ready than EVER! FINALLY! ...Sorry folks, just had some issues with an old laptop and FINALLY got me a new one. Now I'm set to return to action, and am ready to work on anything at this point.

Pikatwig: Alrighty! I've kinda been waiting for that, so… you wanna comment about the chapter name?

KKD: Not without spoiling something. If I say anything, it'll give the plot of this story away for our viewers.

Pikatwig: No… I meant do you like it or what? So… let's just cue the disclaimers already.

KKD: Oh that. Yea, it's pretty cool. And as for disclaimers, we own nothing in this story, they belong to Lauren Faust, Hasbro, the Hub, and their respective owners. However, Pika does own Spiral and Ricky, but that's about it.

* * *

Today seemed to be slow going, with Spiral and Ricky playing a videogame upstairs in their room out of boredom.

"I'll get you this time, Spy," Ricky smirked.

"Well… you can kill me and finish the level without me… anyway, I think this game is fun. And oh! We failed out of a level buddy…" Spiral sighed.

"Drat… sorry Spy," Ricky sighed before they heard a knocking on the door.

"Wonder who that could be?" Spiral wondered as he paused the game before trotting downstairs to check.

He opened the door to see Twilight and Spike standing outside.

"Hey Spiral. What's up?" the Alicorn asked.

"Not much… me and Ricky are playing New Super Pony Sisters U, and while I'm not that used to playing with female characters, no offense, it was a great game," Spiral answered. "So… what's been up with you and the others?"

"Well, nothing much, really, but…" Twilight started, not sure how to put what she wanted to say into words. "We did have a small adventure, but story for another time."

"Alrighty. So… why are you here, if you mind me asking." Spiral inquired.

"I just wanted to drop in and take a look at your books again," Twilight answered. "You okay with that?"

"Sure, come on in Twi," Spiral answered, letting Twilight and Spike inside.

Twilight looked at some books, and had that look which showed how curious she was.

"Again, you have a lot of books on hypnosis, Spiral. But… how much do you learn from them, exactly?" Twilight asked.

"Not sure…" Spiral admitted.

"I see," Twilight nodded as she browsed and came across one book in particular, "Switch-Around Hypnosis Guide".

"This is odd…" Twilight admitted before turning to Spiral. "Hey Spiral? Do you remember this book?"

"Yep. It's a neat book. It says by using hypnosis, you can actually switch ponies' personalities into somepony else's," Spiral admitted, as Twilight tried to stifle some laughter…

"That sounds… kinda silly," Twilight admitted, struggling not to laugh.

"What do you mean 'silly' Twilight?" Spiral asked.

"I mean, I can believe reversing personalities, Discord did that to my friends once, but… switching pony's personality traits around…"

"...Twi…" Spiral groaned/growled, a bit annoyed by Twilight's near laughter as she managed to calm down.

"Um… have you… done this before?" she asked.

Spiral was taken back before replying with a "No…"

"Why not?"

"Before coming to Ponyville… I've never had any friends…" Spiral admitted nervously.

"How come?" Twilight asked, confused.

"I don't want to talk about it… but you doubt me…?"

"No. It's just… it seems a little silly..." Twilight sighed

"Fine, I'll prove it'll work!" Spiral responded.

"Uh… okay… can I get the others first?" Twi asked, a little surprised by Spiral's sudden attitude change.

Spiral simply calmed down a bit, as Twilight walked off to get the others.

"...Are you sure it's a good idea to try that, Spy?" Ricky asked.

Hearing this, Spiral was taken back by his friend, but simply shrugged. "I can do it… sides, what's the worst that can happen?"

Ricky simply gave a small sigh, before walking off to their room.

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Ricky muttered.

* * *

=Later=

"Okay, is everypony here?" Spiral asked as all of the Mane 6 nodded, confirming they were all present. "Okay, now does anypony have any questions before we begin?"

In an instant Pinkie Pie raise her hoof in response.

"Yes Pinkie?" Spiral asked.

"Just what exactly do you want with all of us?" Pinkie asked.

"Well… Twilight asked me if I can essentially swap other ponies' personalities via hypnosis, and that's why you're here, to help me prove I can," Spiral answered.

Pinkie gave a small nod, as the six exchanged a glance as Fluttershy raised her hoof.

"Um… will this hurt in any way?" Fluttershy asked after Spiral picked her.

"Don't worry, you'll all be just fine," Spiral assured. He then gave a small smile at Fluttershy, before his eyes seemed to transform into his namesake as he stared at the mares. "Now girls, look into my eyes."

As the Mane 6 did this, they fell into a trance as their eyes turned into spirals as well. "Just keep focused, and listen to what I have to say, okay?" Spiral told them.

"Yes Master Spiral," they answered, Spiral having gotten used to targets of his hypnosis calling him Master throughout the years.

So, he first approaches Twilight to focus on her first. "Okay Twilight… let yourself go, and relax, my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will."

As if understanding, Twilight's eyelids drooped a bit as a strange violet mist left her mouth before forming an aura head of Twilight, indicating to Spiral that it worked.

"Now sit tight while I continue the process with the others," he told Twilight, who nodded as he walked over to Rarity next, the aura Twilight following him as he did. 'Interesting...' Spiral thought as he simply smiled a bit.

"Now Rarity, listen closely. Let yourself go… relax… my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will," he told Rarity, as something similar happened to her, but the mist being a white one forming an aura head of her own. "Now you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Twilight Sparkle, and you shall go by the name of Rare Sparkle until further notice, understand?"

"Yes… Master Spiral," Rarity answered as the aura Twilight entered Rarity via her mouth, making the mare's eyes widen completely, but they still had the spirals in them due to Spiral not being finished with the process; he can't leave a single persona out during the entire hypnotic process for reasons he did not find out just yet.

"Wow… it's working… alrighty AJ-chan…" Spiral smiled as he walked over to her. "You will do as I say, so listen carefully. Let yourself go… relax… my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will," he instructed as AJ's eyes also drooped, and her aura head emerged from her mouth in an orange mist. "Now you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Rarity, and will go by the name of Appleshine. Get it?"

"Got it," she nodded in a monotone as Rarity's aura head entered AJ via her mouth.

"Good," Spiral nodded, taking AJ's aura head towards Pinkie next. "Okay Pinkie, you're next, so listen up. Let yourself go… relax… my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will."

Pinkie nodded as her jaw dropped, letting her pink mist exit her mouth to form her aura head.

"Now you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Applejack, and will be called Pinkie Jack. Understand?" Spiral responded.

Pinkie gave a small slow nod as AJ's aura head entered her mouth, allowing Pinkie to slam it shut and make her eyes open again.

"Three down, three to go," Spiral noted as he walked over to Fluttershy next. "Just relax Fluttershy, and listen to my voice. Let yourself go… relax… my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will."

With a nod, Fluttershy's mouth opened, releasing her yellow aura head.

"Now you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Pinkie Pie, and will be known as Flutterpie. Are we clear?" Spiral asked.

"Yes Master, crystal clear," Fluttershy answered as Pinkie's aura head seemed to smile widely as it entered Fluttershy the same way as the others, allowing Spiral to move on to Rainbow Dash next.

"Okay Rainbow Dash, listen carefully. Let yourself go… relax… my voice is all you hear as you let your normal persona free, free to enter who I say it will," Spiral instructed next as Rainbow Dash nodded, releasing her blue aura head from her mouth. "Now you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Fluttershy, and will be known as Rainbowshy. You got that?"

"Yes… I got that, Master," she nodded as Fluttershy's aura head nervously entered Rainbow Dash before Spiral took Dash's aura head back over to Twilight.

"Thank you for waiting so patiently Twilight. Now that I am ready, you will be open to any new persona that I say you will have. You will now have the personality of Rainbow Dash, and will be known as Twilight Dash. Do I make myself clear?" he replied to Twilight.

"...Perfectly," Twilight nodded as Rainbow Dash's aura head entered Twilight before Spiral resumed his position he had in front of the 6 mares at the start of the experiment.

"Okay girls, now that you have accepted the personalities, you will let them settle in. When I count to three, and then blink, you will exit the trance and you will act as if you always had the personalities you are using. Understand?" Spiral replied, not having shut his eyes once throughout the experiment.

"We understand, Master," they answered.

* * *

"1… 2… 3…" Spiral counted before finally blinking, his eyes returning to normal as did those of the Mane 6. "Well girls, how do you feel?"

"I feel fantastic as always!" Twilight smirked.

"Not sure…" Rarity, now Rare Sparkle admitted. "...I feel like I need to research something…"

"My stars! Look at how filthy I am! I need to clean up as soon as possible!" Applejack, now Appleshine, gasped.

"Ah don't see what yer complaining about. Ah feel jus' fine," Pinkie replied.

"I feel great. ...What were we doing? I need to know so I can set up a party if we need it," Fluttershy, now Flutterpie, response, much louder than her normal self would talk.

"Um… I… I guess… I'm okay…" Rainbow, now Rainbowshy, shrugged, not sure, but feeling too nervous to respond.

Spiral gave a small smile, knowing that it indeed worked.

* * *

=The Next Day=

Spiral and Ricky were at a store looking for something in particular.

"...What're we doing here again?" Ricky asked to make sure.

"Hello! We came to get a Walkthrough/Strategy Guide to New Super Pony Sisters U," Spiral reminded.

"Oh yea… my bad…" Ricky chuckled nervously before he looked and saw… Rare Sparkle. "Hey look. It's Rarity. Seems to be acting different though... more like... Twilight..."

By that, he noticed Rarity's normally neatly curled mane and tail were now the straight yet clean variety of Twilight Sparkle's, and she was browsing through some books that the store had.

"Wait… you really pulled off the Personality-Switch Hypnosis?" Ricky asked.

"Yep, sure did. And it seems Rare Sparkle's doing fine," Spiral answered as he found the guide and walked up to the counter to purchase it.

"Wait… Rare Sparkle? ...You went as far as to have them think they had different names?" Ricky asked, more confused.

"Yea, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Spiral asked, as he put the book in front of the counter person.

"I guess," Ricky shrugged as Spiral paid how much the book costed before the two left the store.

As Spiral walked outside, he looked around and saw Twilight Dash zooming across the sky.

"Eh? Is that Rainbow Dash?" Ricky asked, not seeing it was Twilight.

"No, didn't you see it was only a purple streak? That was Twilight Dash," Spiral answered.

Twilight Dash then flew down into view, surprising Ricky.

"Hey guys. What's up?" Twilight asked, more of a cockiness in her voice than it had the previous day. Her appearance was also a bit different, most due to her mane and tail being more wild and messy than before.

"Not very much," Spiral responded.

"Uh… I don't know what to say," Ricky admitted.

"I get it. Lost in the awesomeness that is me," Twilight figured with a smirk, making random awesome poses.

"...Not quite what I meant…" Ricky muttered as he and Spiral walked off.

"See ya later, Twilight," Spiral replied.

Spiral then walked over to Fluttershy's house, and Ricky was confused seeing Rainbowshy there instead.

"Okay, what's Rainbow Dash doing here?" Ricky asked.

"It's Rainbow_shy_," Spiral informed.

"...How many mares did you use the Switch-Personality hypnosis on?" Ricky gawked.

Spiral was silent as Rainbowshy trotted over and gave Ricky a small pet. She then walked off to help some of the animals in the room.

"Why didn't you switch Fluttershy into Twilight? For some reason I can picture her talking to squirrels…" Ricky asked.

"It was kinda on the spot; I was just going with what I was feeling," Spiral answered, seeing Rainbowshy was getting along well with the animals.

"Whatever," Ricky sighed as Spiral decided to check the other places the hypnotized Mane 6 were, starting with Sugarcube Corner where he saw Flutterpie working well at the bakery, yet the Cakes were kinda confused by this.

Ricky simply didn't see this at first, due to him being a little too short to see over the counter, until he jumped up and saw it was Flutterpie.

"...Okay… now this is really weird," Ricky admitted.

"Our thoughts as well," Mrs. Cake told Ricky.

"Yea… I'll have my usual blueberry-chocolate cupcake," Ricky added.

"Coming right up!" Flutterpie smiled as she zoomed off to prepare some more just in case before handing Ricky the usual. "Here you go, Ricky."

"Thanks a bunch…" Ricky started before he leaned over to Spiral "What's her name now?" Ricky asked in a whispered.

"Flutterpie," Spiral answered as they left Sugarcube Corner before heading off to Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

=At Sweet Apple Acres=

"So… who's in AJ's place?" Ricky asked.

"Last I checked, it was Pinkie Pie, or rather Pinkie Jack" Spiral answered as he looked in the orchard and saw the pink mare wearing AJ's hat, and bucking apples.

"Huh… Pinkie doesn't strike me as a farm pony…" Ricky told Spiral.

"Yea, I admit, she doesn't look too much the part, but again, it was more on the spot at that point," Spiral admitted and defended.

"By the way, where do you think Appleja-... er… whatever her name now… is?" Ricky asked, correcting himself before saying Applejack's original name.

"Appleshine, I think that she's at Carousel Boutique," Spiral replied as he began to walk off, while Ricky looked at Pinkie Jack, but for a moment he thought he saw an apple near where Pinkie's Cutie Mark is.

They soon arrived at said boutique before looking inside to see Appleshine. And then when Spiral got a look at her, he blushed a very deep red, especially seeing her in an outfit she said she wore not too long ago.

"She certainly seems busy," Ricky noticed before noticing a quick peek at Appleshine's Cutie Mark, and saw Rarity's mixing with Applejack's, but Spiral was too entranced to notice.

"Hey guys," Spike waved to Ricky and Spiral as he walked up to the boutique about to enter before seeing the look on Spiral's face. "Uh… Ricky, is he okay?"

"Put Spy with AJ in the same room, sometimes I really don't know. If you want to see Rarity, well, she's doing whatever it is Twilight would be doing. And uh… there might be a problem…" Ricky stated.

"What're you talking about, Ricky? You sure you haven't been hypnotized by Spiral?" Spike checked.

"...nope. Just take a look at AJ's Cutie Mark and tell me what you see," Ricky told him.

"What're you talking about? Rarity works here, there's no way AJ would be…" Spike laughed at first before looking through the window to see AJ working where he thought Rarity would be, "...working… here…" It was only then that Spike noticed the dual Cutie Mark. "Wait… something's not right. Applejack doesn't have a Cutie Mark like that. Just the apples."

"I know that. Has something ever happened like this before, where somepony had another pony's Cutie Mark?" Ricky asked.

"...Not that I can… wait… there was one time… but Twilight's was normal due to her having cast the spell, and her friends were doing their jobs horribly, but Applejack…" Spike started.

"Appleshine," Ricky corrected.

"Whatever. The point is, they shouldn't be like this, the Cutie Marks were mixed up due to a… spell," Spike replied before somehow figuring it out. "Okay Spiral, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Spiral asked.

"Why is Applejack here and not Rarity?" Spike asked.

"Oh. I used a hypnosis spell to swap the personalities of Twilight and her friends," Spiral answered, having just snapped out of staring at Appleshine.

"Well, was there any potential side effects of this for too long?" Spike asked.

Spiral gave a small nervous look, as he teleported the book to their locations and quickly began to read it. "Uh… oh no. 'If the personalities remain in a different pony for more than 48 hours, it may be impossible to return them to normal...' oops," Spiral said sheepishly.

"Oops? OOPS?! You need to get their personalities back in the right bodies as soon as possible! Otherwise, they won't be able to properly use the Elements of Harmony, and this world could end up falling into chaos!" Spike responded. "...Okay, I don't know for sure about those, but it is possible."

"Alright, alright I'll get started on fixing them. But truth be told, this is actually my second copy of the book, Ricky actually ruined the first one, so that's why I never got this far in it. Okay… uh, I might need some help getting them back so I can switch them back to normal…" Spiral said, as he was a little nervous.

"We'll need to split up if we're gonna gather them all up. Spike, you get Twilight and Rarity, who are now Twilight Dash and Rare Sparkle. Spy, you handle Appleshine and Pinkie Jack. I'll go find Rainbowshy and Flutterpie," Ricky responded.

* * *

They all gave a quick nod, as Spiral looked at the book for a moment, trying to see if there's a counter, just in case.

"Whatever… gotta move!" Spiral said as he ran into the boutique to get Appleshine.

"What?! What're you doing just charging in here you ruffian?!" Appleshine gawked.

"I'm not a ruffian… you know that fact," Spiral defended.

"Then why did you just barge in here?" Appleshine demanded.

"It's a very important matter, and I need you right now," Spiral informed. He then looked and saw that indeed Applejack's Cutie Mark was starting to turn into Rarity's.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my dress?!" Appleshine responded in a bit of a panic.

"No, just we need to go, now!" Spiral informed, using his magic to grab Appleshine, much to her shock, before rushing out of the Boutique, soon seeing Spike trying to go after Twilight.

"Twilight! Stop goofing around!" Spike snapped, obviously out of breath.

"Yea right, catch me if you can!" Twilight Dash taunted before Spike pulled something out and began writing with his usual quill pen on a blank scroll.

"What're you doing Spike?" Spiral asked, running up quickly.

"Should all else fail, I'm preparing a letter to send to Princess Celestia about this… hopefully, she can help us solve this mess," Spike answered before putting the finished scroll into a magical space behind him, which made it disappear for the moment before he rushed back after Twilight Dash.

Twilight looked down and saw Spike, and when Spike looked up, sure enough, only half of her Cutie Mark was her own, while the other half was changing into Rainbow Dash's.

"Crud! Hurry up guys!" Spike panicked as Spiral rushed back to his house and got Appleshine in, quickly locking the doors so she wouldn't break out before rushing back to Sweet Apple Acres to get Pinkie Jack.

* * *

Meanwhile with Ricky… he was having trouble getting Rainbowshy out of Fluttershy's house.

"Come on! We've gotta go!" Ricky shouted, as he was trying to push her, but to no avail.

"No… I refuse to let these animals stay here by themselves," Rainbowshy insisted, making Ricky groan before he noticed Fluttershy's pet, Angel Bunny, and got an idea. He walked away and over to the rabbit, taking out a carrot, and then Angel saw Ricky toss it as far as he could, and it landed by Spiral's home, and then Angel quickly ran after the food. However, Ricky grabbed it and continued to lure Angel further away from Fluttershy's home, with Rainbowshy quickly realizing what happened.

"ANGEL!" she gasped in a somewhat quiet voice before flying after the two, Ricky struggling to hop faster and faster back to Spiral's home.

"Three down, three to go. We better hurry up!" Ricky said, as was able to get Rainbowshy in, and quickly run to get Flutterpie.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" Flutterpie asked.

"There's a… party that kinda needs your help…" Ricky lied, seeing that the top half of Fluttershy's Cutie Mark was now Pinkie's.

"I'll get right on it!" Flutterpie cheered before rushing inside.

"Ok, I just have to help out either Spike or Spy now," Ricky noted, hopping away and then he picked to go and help Spike.

In the meantime, Spiral was able to get Pinkie Jack into his home, and was kinda drained of energy.

"Man… I really shouldn't have messed with them…" he panted, thinking he should wait here and get his energy restored so he can properly reverse the effects of his hypnosis.

He flipped open the book to see how to switch them back to normal, and then Appleshine walked over to him, rather annoyed.

"Look, I know you're probably mad at me right now, but I had to drag you over here…" Spiral informed.

"For what? You basically pulled me against my will!" Appleshine snapped.

"...long story short, I switched somepony else's personality into you. And if I don't switch it back, there might be no returning you to normal. I mean, this does say there's a 58% chance that if I don't switch you all back to normal, there's no switching you back to normal," Spiral informed, as Spike and Ricky walked in with Rare Sparkle.

"Funny you mentioned that, I looked up that information myself, and if what you say is true, we have to hurry," Rare Sparkle replied.

Spiral gave a small nod, and quickly looked back over the book, as Ricky and Spike kinda stood by him. "Don't hover over me, I can't concentrate if you do that… look, can you two just stay off to the side so I can fix this?"

"Fine," they sighed, just glad they got all of the Mane 6 in the building.

"Okay… let's see if I can do this… girls… look deep into my eyes," Spiral told the six, using his magic to do the same thing he did before, placing the six in a deep trance again.

"Okay girls, listen carefully… the second I blink after counting backwards from three to one… your personalities will return to their original bodies, and you will return to normal and exit this trance… understand?" Spiral asked, merely earning nods from the six mares. "Okay then… 3… 2… 1!"

And the second he blinked, the six aura heads of the Mane 6 flew out of the mouths of the mares before flying around above them before each one somehow managed to return to their correct bodies, causing their Cutie Marks to return to normal as well. Yet all the strain on Spiral caused him to collapse to his knees after using so much magic to reverse the previous hypnotic spell. He was still conscious, but a little wobbly.

"How do you all feel?" Spiral asked.

"...Whaddya mean, Spiral? Do we look any different?" Applejack asked, confirming to Spiral that the spell worked with her.

* * *

"It worked!" he said with joy, going over to hug the six.

"Hey, easy Spiral. Although, I will admit, it was weird acting like that for the third time," AJ chuckled nervously.

"And me, like Twilight? I didn't mind it _that_ much, but I must get my mane back in proper condition. Excuse me," Rarity spoke as she left to clean herself up.

"...I honestly never expected to end up like Rainbow Dash in anyway… but it felt great to spread my wings like that," Twilight admitted.

"Man… that just felt weird… but at least I know how Fluttershy feels," Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Um… it was… interesting… to say the least when it comes to me being like Pinkie," Fluttershy admitted.

"To be honest, I never thought AJ could be so stubborn, but I guess I learned that with her personality," Pinkie replied.

"Ah heard that," AJ groaned.

"Uh… how the heck can they remember all that, Spy? I thought the reversal wouldn't let them remember what happened," Ricky replied, confused.

"It says they will remember it. You must've missed that part bud," Spiral answered.

"Oh yea…" Ricky chuckled nervously.

"So… did you guys like the switch around?" Spiral inquired.

The Mane 6 that were there nodded, confirming they did like it, but since Rarity went to clean up her hair, it would be a while before they got her answer. But Spiral let out a small sigh, getting a concerned look from AJ.

"Well, hypnosis is my talent, and I don't like it when people doubt my abilities," Spiral informed, kinda eyeing Twilight.

"Yea… sorry about that, Spiral," Twilight sighed apologetically.

"It's cool," Spiral smiled.

"Say, uh… Spiral? If you want… you could write an entry about what happened the last couple days in our group journal if you want," Twilight offered, handing him the journal in question.

"Wow… this is an honor Princess Twilight-chan," Spiral said, causing Twilight to blush a bit.

Twilight just nodded as she handed the journal to Spiral, who placed it down on a table before taking a pencil and began writing in it.

"Everypony has their unique talents, and how they go about using them can be good, or evil. My friends all have their special talents, and I have my own. However, it's important to accept these talents, and never doubt the user of the talents. If you do, then you might find yourself in a worse situation than when you started. Friend of Twilight-tachi, Spiral," Spiral wrote in the journal.

"Not bad Spiral, not bad at all," AJ complimented.

"Thanks," he smiled with a blush.

Twilight gave a small look at Spiral, but then recalled something. "Spike, please take a note."

"Right," Spike nodded, pulling out a blank scroll and pen.

"Dear Princess Celestia, we have recently made friend with stallion by the name of Spiral and his pet Bubble Frog Ricky, both of which having moved in just recently. We have grown quite a strong friendship in the past four weeks, and recently, we allowed him to start writing journal entries in our journal as we are learning new lessons about friendship. Here is a picture of all of us together, and be glad we're making more friends each day. Sincerely your favorite student, Twilight Sparkle."

The group walked out to the library, and then they took the picture, all nine were smiling, and then Spike sent the letter off.

* * *

Pikatwig: Aww… what a sweet ending.

KKD: Sure was. Admittedly, I also found Rainbowshy kinda cute.

Pikatwig: So, favorite part?

KKD: I think it's the parts when Spiral actually used the personality swap hypnosis. It's also a reference to a certain movie. Can you guess which one?

Pikatwig: Uh… no. Can you tell me?

KKD: It's from the first live action Scooby-Doo film; it had a bunch of Voodoo mumbo jumbo that I didn't get, but it had this thing where the personalities of the characters were these aura heads, and there was one scene that was funny due to these heads constantly swapping host bodies before returning to the right ones. It's confusing for me to elaborate further, so I recommend you try and find the clip I'm talking about to make more sense of it.

Pikatwig: Okay… uh, anyway… my favorite part has to be the ending with the picture, it's a cute little reference to the intro of the show.

KKD: That's actually pretty cute, I will admit. So, is there anything else you wanna say?

Pikatwig: What did you think of the mixed up versions of the Mane 6.

KKD: It was crazy, but again, I think my favorite of these is Rainbowshy.

Pikatwig: Alrighty. Well, let's wrap it up. Just Live More.

KKD: Jaa ne!


End file.
